Bighorn Questions and Answers 2.pdf

Payments and deductions

1. After the permit is issued, how frequently are reservation proceeds remitted, and what is the typical delay between the booking date and deposit into the concessionaire’s bank account?

• Recreation.gov will distribute funds on a bi-weekly basis. Payments can take a couple of days to reconcile, there are times when a payment is made within a given two-week distribution cycle does not finish processing in time and is instead included in the following distribution cycle.

2. When will reservation proceeds accumulated before permit issuance be released? Can you provide the current balance and identify which reservation dates and facilities it covers?

• Funds accumulated prior to permit issuance will be released in the first distribution cycle after the Recreation.gov team receives a signed special use permit authorizing management of the facilities. We are not able to provide the current balance.

3. What fees or deductions are taken from camping revenue before payment to the concessionaire, including credit-card processing fees, Recreation.gov charges, refunds, chargebacks, taxes, or other adjustments?

• The Forest Service uses an add-on fee model for all overnight reservations.

Customers pay a reservation fee in addition to the camping fee. No deductions are taken from camping revenue but the Forest Service will retain the reservation fees. For day-use systems (Activity Pass), which operate under the one-fee model, a small portion of the fee is retained to cover program costs.

• Credit-card fees are paid by Treasury. No credit-card fees are passed on to the concessionaire.

• Applicable refunds and chargebacks are recorded in the appropriate distribution cycle and reflected in the bi-weekly payment.

4. Can you provide a sample or redacted concessionaire settlement statement showing gross camping revenue, each deduction or adjustment, and the resulting net payment?

• Bi-weekly distribution report sample:

Cancellations, refunds, and chargebacks

5. If reservation proceeds have already been remitted when a guest cancels, how is the refund recovered from the concessionaire—through a future settlement deduction, direct repayment, or another process?

• Refunds for cancellations after proceeds have been remitted will be applied as deductions in future settlements. If there are no future distributions, Recreation.gov will issue a bill to the concessionaire.

6. When a reservation is canceled or modified, which amounts are refunded to the guest, which fees are retained by Recreation.gov, and what amount, if any, remains payable to the concessionaire?

• Refund amounts depend on the Recreation.gov service and applicable policy.

For most camping reservations, if a cancellation is made in advance, the concessionaire does not retain any fees. Cancellation and reservation fees are retained by the U.S. Forest Service and the remaining amount is returned to the customer. For late cancellations, the first night’s use fee is retained and goes to the concessionaire. Additional policy details are available at:

https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies.

7. Who bears losses from credit-card disputes, chargebacks, suspected fraud, or payment reversals, and how are those amounts reflected on settlement reports?

• The concessionaire bears the loss for chargebacks. Chargeback requests over $100 are reviewed and may be refuted by the Recreation.gov contractor but at this time there is no mechanism for local concessionaire feedback. Chargebacks are processed in the same way as refunds.

8. What refunds may the concessionaire approve independently, and which situations require Forest Service or Recreation.gov approval?

• The system automatically processes refunds for cancellations made ahead of stay dates. After stay dates begin, customers may request refunds, which local concessionaire management reviews and approves or denies based on local policy. There is no further approval process after the decision has been made by the local manager.

9. How are refunds handled when the Forest Service closes a campground, a site becomes unusable, or utilities such as water or electricity are unavailable?

• If a closure is issued in the internal management system, customers automatically receive a full refund. The U.S. Forest Service covers the reservation fees, so concessionaires do not go into a deficit and owe those amounts back due to contractual requirements with the Recreation.gov contractor.

• If utilities go out, there is functionality available to issue partial refunds in bulk on a nightly basis.

Sales tax

10. For reservations paid through Recreation.gov, is Recreation.gov or the concessionaire responsible for reporting and remitting Wyoming sales tax to the state?

• The concessionaire would be responsible for reporting state tax.

11. How do the tax funds flow? Does Recreation.gov collect and remit the tax directly, or is the tax included in the funds paid to the concessionaire for subsequent remittance?

Please also confirm how collected taxes are identified on settlement statements.

• The internal management system allows concessionaires to apply taxes on a percentage basis. Collected tax are included in the bi-weekly distributions and appears as a separate column breakout in reports.

Existing reservations and 2027 rates

12. Is Recreation.gov currently accepting 2027 reservations only for the group-use sites, or are reservations also being accepted for any individual campground sites? Please identify which facilities currently have bookable 2027 inventory and confirm whether the accumulated advance proceeds consist solely of group-site reservations.

• The Hettinger, Pine Island, and Willow Park Group Sites operate on a 12-month rolling basis. All other sites operate on a 6-month rolling basis. The reservation window opens in November 2026 for the 2027 season.

13. Because the six-month reservation window for individual campsites will begin opening in late November 2026—before the new permit is expected to be awarded—what nightly rates will Recreation.gov initially apply to 2027 campground reservations?

• The current rate will apply until the new permit is issued.

14. If different rates are approved after the permit is awarded, can Recreation.gov update the rates for all remaining unbooked inventory while preserving the original prices for reservations already made? Who submits those changes, and how quickly can they be implemented?

• Yes. Existing reservations retain the rate in effect at the time of booking. If additional nights are added, only the added nights use the new rate. Fee changes submitted by the concessionaire manager are applied on the public site within about an hour and are self-service actions that can be taken within the internal management system.

Historical reservation data

15. Is there a standard Recreation.gov report or de-identified export that can be provided with the booking date, arrival and departure dates, facility, camping-fee amount, cancellation status, and refund amount?

• Yes. Recreation.gov provides a similar report, which will be available once a concessionaire manager is identified through the Special Use Permit.

2027 system settings

16. Are the current facility, inventory, rate, and reservation settings automatically carried forward into the 2027 season unless the Forest Service submits changes?

• Yes